Recently my partner and I adopted a kitten for the family, my 4 year old loves the kitten and is very gentle and gets along well with it.
However when my nieces come over they chase the kitten, poke things in her ears, shake her and frighten her. I’ve tried explaining they have to be gentle or she’ll scratch them, I’ve tried locking the kitten away but that’s cruel to her.
I’m worried the kitten will hurt on of the kids. How can I get the girls to understand that the kitten doesn’t like what they are doing? The girls are 7, 6 and 3 years old. I’m worried if the kitten scratches them or bites I’ll get in trouble off the parents
Generally the kitten is very timid and just snuggles up on the couch. She does hiss as the girls and run away when she’s scared
8 Replies
It’s kinder to the kitten to lock it away.
Bring it out for a short visit with the children. Make the kids sit on the couch, and let them gently pat the kitten. Model the correct behaviour. You can gradually increase the length of time the children have with the kitten based on there good behaviour.
Allowing the children to behave badly will just lead to a cat who is terrified of children or a badly injured cat.
If they can’t behave then they don’t get time with the cat.
Lock it away or be stricter with the kids. Show them, guide them, but put them in time out or set time not allowed near kitten if they continue. With my bird I also declare time to leave it alone. I say that's enough, it's only.little now leave it alone and go and play and they do and forget about it.
Be strict and always tell them it's for the health of the kitten, it's important, you're teaching them.
Putting the cat away for brief periods is fine, our childhood cat was always put in the laundry room when we had visitors (for the same reasosns). She lived, in fact she preferred it and ran off to her safe space whenever she heard people at the door.
Obviously if you have your niece's over for days at a time, then that's not appropriate but a few hours here and there won't hurt.
Could you speak with your niece's parents? Are they not present when this occurs?
They think it’s ok or that it’s funnt the kitten is frightened.
I’ve tried sitting the girls down and showing them how to be gentle and nice and when I do lock the kitten away they just go into my bedroom and when I tell them not to their parents say oh they’re just little
Oh, in that case I'd be having a very stern chat with the parents, tell them it's your house and you'd appreciate it if they could respect your wishes regarding the cat so they need to keep their kids in line. Because they're not little, no so little that they can't follow simple rules at someone else's house anyway and certainly not so little that they can't understand that hurting or scaring a living creature is not okay!
You put your foot down and enforce the rules in your house, if they won't follow them, I'd be telling them not to visit anymore until they can!
Exactly this, these people sound rude and oblivious to simple manners.
Stand your ground, it’s not ok to let these children be cruel to the cat.
I do tell the girls off when they hurt the kitten
Hopefully when I approach the parents they will teach their kids to behave
If you want your kitten to survive, do not let those children near it until this changes and explain they weren't being safe last time so no kitten for now. Once it is bigger, set up firm rules if they come to your place and pay close attention to their actions. No chasing, no hurting /shaking. It is not a toy. It can die from this. Ask to meet at their place. This makes me so upset. My kids love animals and we have talked to them growing up about doing what the animal likes, not whatever they like. You could teach them to sit and wait for the cat to come to them when they are quiet. Cats choose you!